CAD/BIM Management

I am stumbling into the role of CAD Manager for my office. I say stumble because their has been nothing simple or graceful about it. The biggest difficulty I am wrestling with is defining my roll, up in till now we were not large enough to require such a person. We are 10 strong now, which means that CAD/BIM management is only a small part of what is being required of me. To make things a little more complex I am having a heck of a time convincing my boss that this roll is more than just a stop-gap. The families will always have to be maintained, the template file is evolving and needs to be maintained, Family creation is something that needs to be monitored to maintain drawing consistency. I don’t have any experience in the area, but I know Revit and most all the other software packages better than anyone else in the firm. I was wondering if anyone knew of any good books on the subject for my self and to pass on to the boss. I need something to help define this roll for a young evolving firm.

You'll definitely want to spend some time in the Cad Admin forums. Lot's of experience there. Plus visit the old newsgroups for "cad mgr" at Autodesk. Your questions are not new...and there is much to read...just not many books if any I believe...

Your route to cad admin is a well worn trail my friend, welcome to the club!

Nathanael,

Ask for a raise while you're at it. :) Only half joking. Most principals don't understand the value of good CAD management practices since they are not in the trenches.

At what point in a firms size do CAD Manager rolls become needed, and at what point dose a firm have the ability to support a Manager with even a little raise.

It has been said that a firm of around 50 cadd users can support a full time cadd mgr as "overhead". But the truth is every firm is different and has different priorities. I believe a firm of smaller size could justify a full time cadd mgr easily assuming they are good at defining the objectives of such a position. Namely that by creating a consistent managed cadd environment every user is more efficient.

Typically you find the "homegrown" cadd mgr is the person who has the most cadd skills. This doesn't go hand in hand with managerial skills however...and this is where cadd mgr differs from a power user. The ability to distill priorities from wishes and user support issues, staying focused on the business issues that drive a practice, is one piece that makes a cadd mgr.

Like I said earlier, the cadd mgr forums are a wealth of information and opinions. Check em out...you'll wish you hadn't because in a week you won't have finished reading...hehe...8-)

Hi

Might want to take a look at the following thread within the CAD Mgmt General Forum -

Advice...

Have a good one, Mike

ps So this is what the inside of the REVIT Forum looks like ;-) very 8-)